The whole campaigning, election and party system was really unique in a way that differentiated itself a lot from just simple Kingmaker and opened up a lot of design space for unique and interesting roles that went really well with the flavor. Like, there were just so many mechanics coming together in a way that, in my view, never detracted from the core gameplay: the party system itself, party PTs, public announcements, voter fraud and correspondingly the electoral commission, and probably more I'm forgetting.

The winner of Best Setup for 2018 was:

Spoiler: Winner

Jjh927 for Gerrymandering Shadow Government Democracy Mafia!

Last edited by Scummies on Tue Apr 02, 2019 4:00 pm, edited 1 time in total.

I didn't even realise I was seriously up for this so winning is pretty cool

I definitely need to thank Mathdino because he was my main reviewer, and also a nod to Beeboy and GIF because they approved the setup after I discovered Mathdino wasn't a technically qualified large reviewer.Also a big thanks to the players of the game, whose play emphasised the nuances of this setup design.

Now, excuse me while I be a bit pretentious:Design of mafia games can be art. Not 'an art', like something people can get good at, but actual art. In this modern era, both a game and a video made by a streamer of themself playing that game are art; in the same way, both the game design and the actual gameplay of a mafia game can be considered separate but intertwined art forms. I designed this game with the intent to say something about the American electoral system as I see it as an outsider, and also about democracy in general. This was achieved along with a game that was extremely fun to mod, because I got to watch that art unfurl into the actual gameplay. There are some posts that go beyond anything I ever hoped for; my personal highlight is this segment of a post from Wraith that I feel embodies the kind of thing I was trying to achieve:

Spoiler: Enjoyable Post

In post 1139, Wraith wrote:Secondly, I think the dynamics of the gerrymandering, which was orchestrated by the scum, make it exceedingly clear that SPP is a town party, and the scum are seeking to marginalize us. They are quite overtly attempting to make today's election a two-horse race between SNKP (whose members have been proven to have committed multiple acts of voter fraud to elect their man (!!!) and whose president executed a townie) and LSDOP. Therefore, I trust neither.

But also, political statements aside, it was a pretty cool setup with a ridiculous number of special mechanics that somehow all worked exactly as intended. I was expecting at least one of them to miss the mark, but everything- that is, the main district voting system, the gerrymandering, electoral fraud and investigations, the party system with its PTs, the crier posting, even the goddamn opinion polls that phished Mutantdevle into telling scum about the masonry- functioned as they were meant to. It's definitely a game I'm proud of on multiple levels.

I'm not sure if I'll ever decide to express something through a mafia game again, so the artistic value will probably be minimal in future. However, in terms of mechanics and roles that interact with each other to make for a more enjoyable and less predictable mafia game, this is pretty much how I design games. I am currently working on Kenshi Mafia, which will also be a large theme, and will have a bunch of somewhat ambitious mechanics within it.

"As best I can tell, jjh is some kind of wizard with mind control powers." -Jingle

Ah dudeI remember when we used to play together on DuelAcademyI actually looked at what I posted on that gamethread and it was so cringy and our fights were so newbishbut thats okay, we met here and I kept modding and u kept playing and you started to like the game more and more.

So then I introduced you to MS and got you to play in Spring Fever I think was your first game? It was different one of your first games if not your first game.But this game made you want more of MS so you played more, and while you were playing, I was modding and doing the things that Ali did back then.

Then you started modding.

Your normal was really cool, and that kind of design is really rare and special to see. It wasn't appreciated much, so I'll put the setup below for people to look at.

Its a pretty cool setup, all focused on private topics. Its cool, innovated design you don't see like this often in normal games.

You modded some uPicks, and hey, thats cool I guess, but you also modded this game.

This game is something thats very special because it offers something that not that many mods really did:A unique spin on mechanics and design

You built your game based on its mechanics and built up.

While people (including yourself) still look up to me, a trendsetter and someone who will continue to be influential to the site through modding, you come up with mechanics that I honestly could never come up with. So you reached hights as great as Varsoon in that regard. And I'm proud of ya.

Keep modding great things pal

Feel free to approach me on discord: Alisae#3437I wanna get to know an Alisae!Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3